Monday, November 9, 2009

Breaking news!!!

I'm swamped in midterm grading, so no time for more than a quick post (except to say that Xian continues to do well and we're hoping to take a break or stop antibiotics permanently in December if all goes well).

The big news is that the Canadian investigative news program W-Five is airing a Lyme program. I was interviewed as part of the background of the story, but in the end they decided to focus on two teenagers -- Ed Sperling, the boy whose case lead us to Xian's diagnosis, and that of a teenage girl in Victoria, Nicole Bottle. Both had/have neurological Lyme disease, so quite close to Xian's story. I'm not sure if they will be using any of the info/documentation that I sent them, but they may, depending on what went onto the cutting room floor. Teenagers are more predictable interview subjects than six year old children, so I know it was a good move on their part (Xian would have been just as likely to talk about whatever entered her head than answering questions about Lyme disease, depending on the moment! Nicole sees the same Lyme specialist in Seattle who diagnosed Xian, and I think there will be a short segment filmed in the Seattle office. The producer, Richard O'Regan, is an Emmy award winner, so I have high hopes for the program.

Here's the message I received from Ed's mom:

"W5 and the Lyme show will run this Saturday at 7 pm. It will be rerun on Sunday at noon or one and it's also going online at http://www.ctv.ca/w5/ "

I'm hoping they get a large number of viewers (and lots of response, as well) as we really need more publicity for the Lyme situation in Canada.

Hopefully those out of Canada will be able to see the on-line version when it airs -- I expect you can test that by checking out whatever last week's program was.